Arlingham One-Place Study

In July 2018, I became the first ‘owner’ of Ebenezer Chapel. A former Wesleyan chapel, built in 1821, it had been bought at auction in 2017 by a family owned company of builders who had renovated and extended it.

As a Grade 2 listed property some original elements had to be retained, one of these being a reading desk (similar to a pulpit). Planning to use the void below this feature for storage, we looked inside and found a treasure trove of original records. And here started my study… That, and the memorial plaques to the Irving family (also original elements) that adorn the walls.

Who was John Irving? What brought him from Dornock, a small village in Scotland to a small village in England 358 miles away, in the early 19th century? Why did he have a Wesleyan chapel built here in 1821?

I have discovered the answers to a couple of these questions, whilst raising so many more, and have found myself working on a One-Place study of the village where the Chapel is located, Arlingham in Gloucestershire.

Fellow villagers have undertaken historical research resulting in the publication of Where the River Bends and Arlingham ‘A Snapshot in Time’, both covering the period from 1900 to 2000. My plan is to reach further back, to learn what life was like in the village between 1800 and 1900.